


One last good-bye

by StarryKnight09



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Irondad, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryKnight09/pseuds/StarryKnight09
Summary: “Run.  Don’t look back.” Rhodey pushed him forward.  Peter stumbled, looking at the man in shock.“Go!” Rhodey yelled.  This time Peter listened.  He knew he’d be useless in this fight.  And Rhodey could fly.  Peter couldn’t.  Sure, he could swing, but only when there was something to stick to, which didn’t exist in the middle of this rocky wasteland.Febuwhump Day 15: “Run. Don’t look back”
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138670
Comments: 22
Kudos: 178





	One last good-bye

“Run. Don’t look back.” Rhodey pushed him forward. Peter stumbled, looking at the man in shock.

“Go!” Rhodey yelled. This time Peter listened. He knew he’d be useless in this fight. And Rhodey could fly. Peter couldn’t. Sure, he could swing, but only when there was something to stick to, which didn’t exist in the middle of this rocky wasteland.

He took off, sprinting as fast as he could in the direction of the Quinjet, not looking back. They’d wandered far enough away that the Quinjet was out of sight, so he hoped he was going in the right direction.

“Helping Dr. Strange will be fun, you thought.” He mumbled to himself as he ran. “Yeah right.”

He could hear the repulsors firing from the War Machine armor but the sound was barely audible over the stampede of all those _things_ running at them. He wanted to glance back to make sure Rhodey was ok, but he knew he couldn’t chance it. He didn’t need his super hearing to hear the creatures gaining on him. Rhodey could take care of himself. He was a big boy. A louder bang sounded in between repulsor blasts. Rhodey must be pulling out the bigger fire power.

_Run._ He thought to himself. _Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around._

Why had they ever agreed to help Dr. Strange in the first place? This was way beyond his pay grade. Some other evil wizard was messing around with bad sorcery and now Peter was running from weird spooky undead creatures.

“Karen.” He gasped. “Any luck with the comms?”

“I’m sorry Peter. Something is still jamming my communication abilities.” Damn.

They never should’ve split up. Whose bright idea had that been anyway? Right. Sam’s. Peter hadn’t known him before, but it seemed like the whole being Captain America thing had kind of gone to his head.

“The enemy creatures are gaining on you.” Karen warned.

“I’m aware!” He tried to run faster but he didn’t think it worked. He knew it’d be bad news bears if any of these things bit him. Dr. Strange had been clear enough about that. His only consolation was that he was in the Ironspider suit, so if bullets couldn’t pierce it, he was pretty sure these ugly things teeth couldn’t. But he wasn’t absolutely 100 percent sure. Besides, the suit wouldn’t save him if was overrun by these things. The sheer number of them would crush him. Not a great way to go.

They were getting so close he could smell them and the pungent smell of rotting flesh and garbage made him want to gag. 

_Must run faster. Must run faster._

Finally, the Quinjet came into view. Oh thank god.

“I recommend you increase your velocity. At this current pace you will not reach the Quinjet before you’re overrun.” Karen informed him.

Shit.

“Help!” He screamed, hoping another group had returned to the Quinjet and would hear him. “A little help!”

A growl sounded behind him. Way too close. He turned around. And immediately regretted it. Man, they were as ugly as they were stinky, and he only had about a thirty foot lead on them.

_This was not good. This was so not good._

In the split second he glanced backward, he tripped. He flew through the air before crashing to the ground and rolling across the rock laden dirt terrain.

_I’m going to die. This is how Spiderman goes? Really?_ He thought as he tumbled.

The instant he stopped, he rocketed back to his feet and started running again, even though he knew it was pointless. Those things were right behind him. He didn’t want to turn around and look. He didn’t want to know when death would be coming.

But then from one second to the next, he had an idea. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. Sure, he didn’t have firepower and he couldn’t fight these things hand to hand, but he still had his webs. Just because they couldn’t swing him anywhere didn’t mean they were useless. He spun back around, trying not panic at the fact that the creatures were only like ten feet away as he shot his webs out across the entire line of them, sticking them together.

They fell and that caused their comrades behind them to trip over them and fall as well like a line of dominos. It wasn’t a definitive solution, but it’d bought him some time. The Quinjet was getting closer, and now he could see people running down the ramp toward him. Sam and Bucky. Wanda and Clint. Scott and Professor Hulk. Dr. Strange.

He wasn’t going to die after all!

And then the other wizard guy showed up.

Ok. Maybe he’d spoke too soon…

Dr. Strange glided through the air to meet the other wizard guy in a collision of colors. Peter thought his gold sparkle transporting rings looked cool, but whatever spell he’d just cast put them to shame. Multicolored glitter sparkles fell from the sky like rain, landing on his skin but not hurting him. They rested there for a few seconds before fading away. A moment later he realized the noise behind him had greatly decreased. He risked a quick glance backward and gaped. Any creature touched by the glitter stuff started gradually fading away until they disappeared altogether.

It took him another few strides to realize he didn’t need to run anymore. Nothing was chasing him. Dr. Strange had eradicated the entire undead creature herd with one spell. Wow. There was definitely something to be said about the magic or mystical arts or whatever the man called it.

“Kid? You ok?” Sam asked, reaching him a few seconds after he’d stopped. The man clapped a hand on his shoulder and looked him up and down.

“Yeah.” He answered as he tried to catch his breath. “I’m good. So…now what do we do?”

Sam glanced up at Strange fighting the other wizard guy, the two of them periodically clashing in the air as they both fired colorful spells. If it’d been dark out Peter could’ve almost made believe he was watching fireworks.

“Hell if I know.” Sam admitted. “I draw the line at street magicians. This wizard shit is beyond me.”

Peter huffed out a laugh.

“Hey, where’s Rhodey?” He hadn’t seen the man since he’d ran and hoped he was ok. He couldn’t imagine the man hadn’t gotten away with the War Machine armor. He took a few steps back in the direction he’d came, searching the horizon.

“Don’t worry. He’s right there. See?” Sam pointed up in the sky where Rhodey was flying toward them.

Right. He didn’t know how he’d missed him. His heart rate slowed. Mr. Stark’s best friend was fine. Peter hadn’t been able to save his mentor, but he wasn’t going to let anything happen to his family, not if he could help it. And Rhodey was definitely part of Mr. Stark’s family.

“Watch out!” Sam yelled, but the warning came too late. He’d been so focused on Rhodey he hadn’t been paying close enough attention to the wizards battling. His spidey sense flared in warning, but too late. He tried to dive out of the way, but the range of the spell’s blast heading toward him was too large to evade. The globe of red light enveloped him, and everything went black.

Peter’s eyes snapped open and he sat up before he was even fully awake, the adrenaline from the battle still churning through him. He’d been hit. Where was he hit? He ran his hands over the front of his body and looked down at it, but he didn’t see any blood. And nothing hurt. But…wait. What? Why wasn’t he wearing his Spiderman suit?

“Ok. What the hell.” He mumbled to himself, holding his hands up in front of his face as if they could tell him. But they were bare. And he had on jeans ith one of his science pun t-shirts, which was the outfit he’d been wearing before he’d put on the Ironspider suit earlier. Weird. Last he’d checked he’d left his clothes in the Quinjet. Maybe someone had changed him out of his suit and into his clothes? He frowned. That made no sense. 

Where was the Quinjet anyway? Everything was a lot quieter. He glanced around, taking in his new surroundings, and his face slackened in shock. Because he definitely wasn’t in the barren rocky wasteland where they’d been fighting that wizard. In fact, his surroundings didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before. Was he even on Earth?

“Oh shit. Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” He muttered.

The ground he sat on looked like water, but its surface was solid. He slapped his palms down and watched as ripples expanded outward from them, like what would happen if you dropped a stone into water. But he wasn’t wet or sinking. Ok. This was officially freaky weird.

“Where am I?” He whispered and stood, doing a full circle to try to orient himself. It didn’t help. Everything looked the same. The weird blackish blue ground he stood on stretched out as far as the eye could see. No other pieces of landscape pierced it. The line of the horizon was only perceptible because the blue of the air was just a shade lighter than the ground. The whole aesthetic was dizzying and kind of trippy.

And then he looked up.

“Holy shit.” His heart leapt into his throat. The sky was a dark expanse of stars and galaxies. And he could see a few large planets that looked almost close enough to touch. It was terrifyingly beautiful. He reached out and tried to poke at one of the closer ones, a red giant with rings. It was too far away to actually touch, but the spot where his finger poked made the air ripple out in the same way it had on the ground, like the atmosphere was composed of gelatin that jiggled when touched.

“What the hell...” He definitely wasn’t on Earth. What kind of spell had he been hit with? Had he been transported somewhere? Banished? Was it reversible?

“Underoos.” Came a voice from behind him.

Peter stiffened. He hadn’t heard that voice in months. The last time had been on a rubble strewn battlefield, fighting for his life, and the life of the entire universe. Terror gripped him. He was afraid to turn around, and at the same time, he’d never wanted to do anything more in his whole life. He turned. And there he was. Mr. Stark. Standing there without a care in the world, hands in his pockets with sunglasses on and a characteristic grin on his face.

“Mr. Stark.” He whispered, unable to believe his eyes.

“Hey kid.” The man’s eyes softened as he took him in.

Peter just stared, brain unable to comprehend that this could possibly be real. He didn’t know what to say. He’d imagined so many times what he’d say if he ever saw Mr. Stark again, but now he could barely make his mouth move to form words.

“But— How—” He stammered, not even sure what he was trying to ask, and then a thought struck him and his eyes widened as he asked, “Am I dead?”

“No.” Mr. Stark reassured him then clarified, “Well, not technically.”

“What does that mean? Not technically dead? So, am I not technically alive either?” His tone got higher pitched even as he tried not to panic. He knew there were more important things to talk to Mr. Stark about, but he couldn’t think about anything else until he knew what was happening to him.

“You’re in the in between.” Mr. Stark explained.

He frowned.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” The man said, face showing his disapproval. And Peter couldn’t help the small smile that cracked across his face. He’d missed those looks from Mr. Stark.

“Then how do I go back?” He asked.

Mr. Stark shook his head. “There’s nothing you can do. We just have to wait.”

Not the most comforting answer. “But if I’m in the uh in between, how are you here?”

“It’s too complicated to explain, but let’s just say I’m here to keep you company.” Mr. Stark smiled again.

And Peter finally let himself enjoy the fact that he was standing there with Mr. Stark. Something he’d wished for more than anything. He wasn’t going to waste it even if his own fate was uncertain. In the next second, he crossed the distance between them and threw his arms around the man. He was substantial. Whole. Mr. Stark wrapped his arms around him and hugged him right back.

Tears welled in his eyes, and he didn’t know how that was even possible, just like he didn’t know how he could hug his mentor since supposedly neither of them had bodies right now, but it was happening all the same. 

“I missed you.” Peter whispered into the man’s neck.

Mr. Stark brought a hand up to the back of his head and tangled it in his hair. “I missed you too kid.”

Peter didn’t know how long they stood there hugging. Not that it mattered. Time didn’t exist in this place. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he did.

And Tony didn’t say anything. And he didn’t pull away. He just kept holding him. For as long as Peter wanted.

Peter tried to soak it all in and memorize every detail of the moment. The smell of Mr. Stark’s aftershave, the scratch of his beard, the warmth of his embrace, how absolutely protected and safe he felt. He tucked away every sensation and feeling so when he needed to in the future, he could close his eyes and recall it. Because he knew he’d never get another chance at this. 

“It’s not fair.” The words came out before he’d even decided to say them.

“I know.” Tony agreed. 

“I wish you could come back with me.”

“You know I can’t.”

“Do you...do you regret it?” He whispered his question. One of the things he’d always wondered.

“No.” Tony answered without hesitation.

“Why?”

“Because there was no other way.”

That was true enough. Dr. Strange had told Peter something similar. If Mr. Stark hadn’t snapped, they would’ve lost and everyone would’ve died.

“But do you regret inventing time travel? You could’ve lived a full life with Pepper and Morgan.” Peter had always felt like he’d been partially responsible for taking that away from him. The way everyone had told the story, he’d been the catalyst for Mr. Stark inventing time travel. And now he got to have this time with Mr. Stark when Morgan or Pepper never would, and that made him feel even more guilty.

“No I couldn’t have.” The man said pulling away so he could cup Peter’s face in his hands. “Because I didn’t have you.”

The tears in Peter’s eyes slid silently down his cheeks. “I wish you wouldn’t have done it.”

“I don’t. I had to. No regrets.” Tony smiled at him and Peter marveled at how it could be so soft and so sad at the same time. “I love you kid.”

“I love you too.” He said back and fell forward back into a hug. After another long minute or so, Peter gathered enough self control to pull away again. He couldn’t stay glued to the man forever. No matter how much he may want to right now.

As Mr. Stark let him go, he kept his hands resting on Peter’s shoulders, and Peter remembered another thing he wished he’d gotten the chance to say when Mr. Stark had been alive. The man had done so much for him. Had become something of a father figure to him. And he’d never verbalized his appreciation in any way.

“I uh I never thanked you.” He said. 

“You never had to.” 

“Still, I want to. Thank you. For everything.”

“You’re welcome Pete.” Mr. Stark smiled. “But no thanks are necessary.”

“Is there anything I can—"

“I don’t think we have much time left.” Mr. Stark interrupted with a frown.

“Oh.” A short burst of panic hit him. He didn’t want to leave Mr. Stark. “What-what if I want to stay?”

“No.” Mr. Stark answered firmly. “You can’t.”

“Why not?” 

“It’s not your time yet.”

“So I can’t choose to stay?” He asked, but even as he did, he knew he never would. He couldn’t do that to everyone he loved at home no matter how much he missed Mr. Stark.

“No. That’s not how it works. And you wouldn’t really want to stay anyway.” Mr. Stark said in his typical all-knowing fashion.

“I know.” He said sadly and then asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.”

Peter rolled his eyes.

“Shoot.”

“What’s it like here?”

Tony gave him a peaceful smile, eyes twinkling as he answered, “Wonderful.”

It didn’t fix anything, but it was a small consolation at least. A weird feeling started somewhere near his belly and spread, like a buzzing, tugging sensation.

“Time to go Pete.” Mr. Stark said, his smile turning sad.

“Mr. Stark.” He whined and leaned forward to give him one last hug. He hated the feeling of being torn away from him. Hated how similar this whole thing felt to getting dusted on Titan.

“I know.” Mr. Stark shushed as Peter clung to him. “But it’s ok buddy. It’s going to be ok.”

Peter gripped him tighter, but he could tell it was a battle he was going to lose.

“Bye kid. I love you and I’m so proud of you.” Mr. Stark whispered.

“I love you too.” He said frantically, worried any second he’d be torn away and unable to finish what he wanted to say. “And I miss you so much.”

He tried to hold on, but in the next moment, he was finally ripped away.

“No.” He protested desperately. “Tony!” 

“Tony!” The man’s name was still on his lips as his eyes snapped open.

“Hey, you’re ok.” Rhodey said from where he was crouched down next to him.

“I…I…what?”

“That wizard guy hit you with a spell, but Strange finally figured out how to reverse it.” Rhodey explained.

Peter blinked and looked around, recognizing his surroundings. He was lying on a couch in the Sanctum. It all came back to him. The fight. The other wizard guy. Getting hit by the red spell. Mr. Stark.

“I saw Mr. Stark.” He blurted out and Rhodey’s eyes widened. 

“I did. I saw him.” He insisted, worried the man wouldn’t believe him.

Rhodey looked up at someone behind Peter’s head. Peter craned backward and noticed Dr. Strange standing there, a neutral expression on his face.

“It’s possible.” Dr. Strange said. “The spell sent him somewhere where he was neither alive nor dead.”

“Mr. Stark called it the in between.”

Dr. Strange nodded and Rhodey looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Interesting that Stark was able to cross over into that place.” Dr. Strange said. “You must have a strong connection with him for that to have been possible.”

Peter nodded, a lump forming in his throat as he remembered all that they had said.

Rhodey kept staring at him, his mouth open like he wanted to ask something but couldn’t figure out what. If it’d been him, Peter knew what he’d want to know, so he answered the man’s wordless question. 

“He’s ok.” Peter said with a small smile. “He’s happy.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry! I almost made myself cry writing this and usually I hate post-Endgame canon stuff but this story took control and made me write. That's my only defense.
> 
> Come hit me up on [Tumblr!](https://starryknight09.tumblr.com/)


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